Staff Directory
Michael Thompson, Director
Michael Thompson has worked on criminal justice policy issues with the Council of State Governments since 1997, getting his start with CSG's Eastern Regional Conference. During his tenure at CSG, Thompson has launched and overseen various national policy initiatives to improve outcomes for people with mental illnesses in the criminal justice system; enhance the ability of people released from prisons and jails to succeed in the community; and increase public safety, reduce spending on corrections, and improve conditions in the neighborhoods to which most people released from prison return. These efforts have prompted congressional hearings, federal legislation, national news coverage, and bipartisan legislative and programmatic initiatives in states across the country. Prior to joining CSG, Mike worked for three years for the Office of the Court Monitor, which a U.S. District Court Judge established, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Mike received his B.A. with honors from Middlebury College.
Suzanne Brown-McBride, Deputy Director
Suzanne Brown-McBride has several years of experience promoting public safety and preventing victimization. She began her career working on behalf of sexual assault victims in 1991 as a community education specialist and crisis-line advocate. Before beginning her tenure as deputy director at the CSG Justice Center, she served as the executive director for two statewide victim assistance associations: the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs. She acted as chair of both the California Sex Offender Management Board and the Washington State Department of Corrections Victims Council. Suzanne was also an appointee to The California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery and the Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission. She is a 2010 recipient of The Lois Haight Award of Excellence and Innovation, which honors a professional whose efforts have had a significant impact on local, state, national, or international public policy development and implementation that promote dignity, respect, rights, and services for victims of crime. She received her B.A. from Pacific University.
Austin, TX, Office
Andrew Barbee, Senior Researcher
Andrew Barbee will use his extensive background with the court and legislative processes to support the Justice Reinvestment projects in different states. Most recently, he was the senior researcher in the Texas Office of Court Administration, where he worked on a caseload study of the Texas courts. This study was used by the Texas legislature to determine the need for new courts in the state. He also worked in the Texas financial obligations report produced by that office in collaboration with us. Andy was also a manager in the System Forecasting Division of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, where he was responsible for the forecasts of the adult and child protective services populations and caseworker caseloads. His previous experience also includes a senior researcher position at the Texas Criminal Justice Policy Council, where he was responsible for developing the official adult correctional population projections for Texas and responsible for conducting impact analyses of legislation using the agency’s simulation model. Andy has an M. A. in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University.
Mike Eisenberg, Research Manager
Mike Eisenberg manages the logistics and methodology of key research and evaluation projects in the areas of parole, probation, and substance abuse and mental health treatment programs. For the past 25 years he has directed complex research projects and has written analytical reports for policymakers and correctional administrators for the state of Texas, including work for the Criminal Justice Policy Council, Board of Pardons and Paroles, and Department of Criminal Justice-Parole Division. Most recently he served as Director of Research and Evaluation for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Community Justice Assistance Division. He has evaluated substance abuse treatment, mentally ill offender diversion programs, faith-based correctional programs, sex offender treatment, and employment and correctional education programs. Mike also has conducted technical assistance activities for state universities and national experts in Florida and Missouri. He received a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.
Tony Fabelo, Director of Research
Tony Fabelo, Ph.D., is in charge of designing, developing and implementing a research agenda for the Justice Center. He also provides technical assistance to state and local governments to help them increase public safety and make more efficient uses of state and local taxpayer dollars. Before joining CSG, he was a Senior Research Associate with the JFA Institute. He worked between 1984 and 2003 with the Texas Criminal Justice Policy Council, appointed by Governor Ann Richards to head this state research and evaluation agency in 1991. He continued to serve as director under Governor George W. Bush and Governor Rick Perry. During Tony's tenure on the council, he advised five governors from both sides of the aisle. In his different capacities in Texas he has assisted every legislature since 1985 in developing criminal justice policies, including crafting the major Justice Reinvestment initiative adopted by the Texas legislature in 2007. Tony received his B.A. in Political Science from Loyola University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.
Bethesda, MD, Office
Regina Davis, Deputy Director of Communications
Regina Davis is responsible for supporting a range of print, online, and media relations projects and ensures that all communications reflect the standards, objectives, and mission of the CSG Justice Center and its partners. Regina works collaboratively with Justice Center staff to disseminate accurate and effective information to policymakers and practitioners. She has an extensive background in writing, editing, and public relations and has worked previously for the University of Maryland as a Senior Editor and as a Communications Director. In addition, Regina is a former university lecturer and has worked for AOL as a writer/editor. She received her B.S. in Mass Communication from Towson University and her M.A. in Mass Communication from the University of Florida.
Alexa Eggleston, Substance Abuse and Addictions Project Director
Alexa Eggleston works with state and community-based providers of addiction and mental health services throughout the country to increase access to effective prevention, treatment, and recovery services for people with behavioral disorders who are involved with the criminal justice system. Before joining the Justice Center, Alexa served as director of public policy for the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. In this position, she worked with community-based behavioral health systems to improve access and quality of care, advocated for federal appropriations to expand funding for prevention, treatment, and recovery services, and most recently advocated for passage of the Wellstone-Domenici Mental Health and Addiction Parity Act and the Second Chance Act. Through her position at the National Council, Alexa promoted policies and laws that support a public health response to addiction and works to strengthen linkages between community-based prevention, treatment, and recovery services and health care, criminal justice, and TANF/Welfare systems. Before joining the National Council, she was Director of National Policy at the Legal Action Center. Alexa received her law degree from the University of Maryland and her undergraduate degree from John Carroll University.
Leah Kane, Public Affairs Assistant
Leah Kane is a member of the CSG Justice Center’s government affairs, communications, and reentry teams. She is responsible for writing and reviewing publications on prisoner reentry and many related issues, and helps advance both legislative and media affairs initiatives. She also oversees the CSG Justice Center's work on reentry issues affecting youth in the juvenile justice system. Leah previously worked in the New York office of Congressman Jerry Nadler as his scheduler and staff assistant. Leah received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College, her M.P.A. from the Maxwell School of Citizenship at Syracuse University, and her J.D. from George Washington University Law School, where she also co-founded and directed the Criminal Justice Reform Project, a pro bono initiative focused on expanding diversion and reentry programs for District of Columbia residents.
Whitney Kujawa, Project Assistant
Whitney Kujawa works on projects that intersect with law enforcement. She comes to the CSG Justice Center after spending three years as a policy and training coordinator for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. In this capacity, she focused on working with police departments across the country to address firearm violence as part of the Gun Violence Reduction Initiative. Her work included tracking legislation, policy, and practice related to firearms violence at the local, state, and federal levels. Whitney's work included the successful development of collaborative efforts focused on law enforcement, legislators, and community leaders to improve citizen and officer safety in places where firearm violence is a critical issue facing neighborhoods or a collection of jurisdictions. Whitney has a bachelor's degree in criminology and Spanish from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Jamal Nelson, Government Affairs Assistant
Jamal Nelson joined the CSG Justice Center’s government affairs team in February 2009. Prior to joining the center, Jamal served as deputy director of Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he worked on international trade issues. He has a wealth of experience in working with Capitol Hill on policy matters. Jamal received his B.S. in Political Science from Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Conn.
Blake Norton, Project Director
Blake Norton serves as an advisor and technical assistance provider on Justice Center projects that focus on law enforcement issues and community partnerships. Before joining the center, Blake spent more than 18 years with the Boston Police Department, where she helped shape the agency’s prisoner reentry efforts and successfully worked with citizens and faith-based organizations to advance consensus-based strategies for improving public safety. She designed and managed the police department’s community affairs activities, including programs for court-involved and at-risk youth. She received her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts and her M.Ed from Boston University.
Jennifer O'Brien, Administrative Assistant
Jennifer O’Brien assists the government affairs, communications, law enforcement, and health systems and services groups. She previously worked for DC-based private and nonprofit organizations, managing human resources and administrative operations at the senior management level. Jennifer attended Boston College and the University of Maryland, and majored in special education.
Fred Osher, Director of Health Systems and Services Policy
Fred Osher, M.D., oversees the health components of the CSG Justice Center's initiatives. He also provides technical assistance to state and local governments across the country seeking to improve their response to people who have mental health and/or substance use disorders and are involved in the criminal justice system. Before joining the CSG Justice Center, Fred served as the Director of the Center for Behavioral Health, Justice, and Public Policy and as an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He has published extensively in the areas of homelessness, community psychiatry, co-occurring mental and addictive disorders, and effective approaches to persons with behavioral disorders within criminal justice settings. He received his B.A. from Harvard University and his M.D. from Wayne State University.
Martha Plotkin, Director of Communications
Martha Plotkin develops and coordinates the CSG Justice Center’s communications strategies, which include reaching out to the media, developing publications, and building partnerships with other organizations to increase national attention to key issues. She also works with staff on projects related to law enforcement policy issues and designs new projects for the program. Martha, an attorney, previously worked as the director of communications and legislative affairs at the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit membership organization of law enforcement leaders. She has written extensively on public safety issues and has directed research and training projects in such areas as homelessness and elder abuse. Martha received her B.A. from Brandeis University, and her J.D. from the George Washington University National Law Center.
New York City Office
Policy Staff
Elizabeth Dodd, Project Associate
Elizabeth Dodd provides research support to the CSG Justice Center’s Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project. She works on the Justice Center's efforts to support court-based initiatives for people with mental illnesses in contact with the criminal justice system, as well as the Bureau of Justice Assistant's Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program. She also coordinates the Justice Center's Criminal Justice/Mental Health Information Network (InfoNet). She received her B.A. with high honors from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Laura Draper, Project Associate
Laura Draper works on the CSG Justice Center’s law enforcement projects to improve the outcomes of police encounters with people with mental illnesses and to help law enforcement executives better assess and improve their agency’s role in promoting safe and successful prisoner reentry. She received her B.A. with highest honors from Case Western Reserve University, her MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and her M.S. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Le’Ann Duran, Reentry Project Director
Le’Ann Duran oversees efforts at the CSG Justice Center to improve the likelihood that people’s transitions from prison to the community are safe and successful. In this capacity, she manages the National Reentry Resource Center, which, following a competitive grant process, BJA designated the CSG Justice Center to develop and direct. Before joining the CSG Justice Center, Le’Ann was the administrator of the Office of Offender ReEntry for the Michigan Department of Corrections, where she managed Michigan’s Prisoner ReEntry Initiative (MPRI). National experts have recognized MPRI, which has attracted more than $100 million in state, private, and federal funding, as one of the most advanced and comprehensive reentry initiatives in the United States. Le’Ann has been instrumental in the project’s success, coordinating a grassroots approach to building community capacity to receive people released from the state prison system. Before joining the Michigan Department of Corrections, she was a Senior Research Associate with Public Policy Associates in Lansing, Michigan, where she worked as a consultant to the Michigan Department of Corrections. Le’Ann received her B.S. from Texas Tech University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude, and her M.S. from Colorado State University.
Hallie Fader, Policy Analyst
Hallie Fader works in the CSG Justice Center’s Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project, where she focuses on court systems projects. She has written on dispute systems design for state trial courts and has worked on a variety of projects for courts in New York and Massachusetts, including problem-solving programs, strategic planning efforts, and a task force on litigants who represent themselves in court. Most recently, she advised financial services institutions in New York as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company. She received her B.A. from Brown University and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Crystal Garland, Project Associate
Crystal Garland develops communications materials and oversees the project website for the Justice Center's Justice Reinvestment Initiative. She also coordinates the Justice Center's victims project and supports the Center's project on children of incarcerated parents. Prior to joining the CSG Justice Center, Crystal volunteered with the Correctional Association of New York, visiting correctional facilities throughout the state to speak with staff and inmates regarding prison conditions. She received both her B.A. with honors and M.A. from Stanford University.
Megan Grasso, Policy Analyst
Megan Grasso provides assistance to state policymakers in implementing justice reinvestment strategies. Prior to joining the CSG Justice Center, she served as a legislative analyst with the Office of Management and Budget and as a legislative aide for a New Jersey state senator. She received her bachelor’s degree with honors from Rutgers University and her master’s degree in public policy from the University of Maryland.
Elizabeth Meyer, Project Associate
Elizabeth Meyer works on the Bureau of Justice Assistance's Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program and provides support for the Justice Center's efforts to promote collaboration between corrections and mental health systems. Elizabeth received her B.A. from Duke University and her M.S.W. and M.S. in criminology from the University of Pennsylvania.
Marc Pelka, Policy Analyst
Marc Pelka assists state policymakers in implementing justice reinvestment strategies. Before joining the Justice Center, Marc served as a press aide in the Connecticut House of Representatives and subsequently as a policy aide to the Speaker of the House. His duties consisted of legislative research, planning, and coordination, with a concentration on policy before the Judiciary Committee. Marc received his B.A. with honors from New York University and his M.P.P. in criminal justice policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Seth Prins, Policy Analyst
Seth Prins works on the CSG Justice Center's Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project, where he coordinates efforts to promote collaboration between corrections and mental health systems and improve those systems’ response to individuals with mental illnesses. Seth received his B.A. with Great Distinction from McGill University and his M.P.H. from Columbia University.
Shawn Rogers, Policy Analyst
Shawn Rogers is currently creating a Reentry Dashboard that will help policymakers assess their state's reentry plan. Shawn also oversees the CSG Justice Center's reentry work related to risk and need assessments and options for jurisdictions looking to increase housing capacity for recently released individuals. Before joining the Justice Center, Shawn worked as a research associate for the Citizens Budget Commission in New York, where he analyzed state fiscal issues-in particular, the impact state fiscal policies had on the city of New York. Shawn began his career in policy analysis at the Bighorn Center in Denver, Colorado, working on issues ranging from voting rights to alternative sentencing for nonviolent drug offenders. He received his B.A. from Kansas State University and his M.P.P. from the University of Denver.
Hank Rosen, Project Assistant
Hank Rosen provides support on all three of the CSG Justice Center’s national projects: the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project; the Reentry Policy Council; and the Justice Reinvestment Initiative. Hank provides project support, assists in maintaining and publishing content on the Justice Center’s websites and in Justice Center newsletters, and aids the development of a new web-based tool for the reentry field. He received his B.A. from Middlebury College in 2009, with a focus in psychology.
Alexandra Schepens, Behavioral Health Policy Analyst
Alexandra works on CSG Justice Center projects that concern mental health and/or substance abuse services for individuals with involvement in the criminal justice system. Before joining CSG, Alexandra worked at Suffolk County House of Correction in Boston as a mental health clinician, with a focus on coordinating reentry services. She received her B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, her M.S.W. from Simmons College, and her M.PH. from Harvard University.
Erica Tanne, Project Assistant
Erica Tanne provides state-based assistance for the CSG Justice Center’s justice reinvestment initiative. She has experience working on Capitol Hill; specifically, with the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs — as well as the ACLU Foundation’s National Prison Project. Erica is skilled in policy research, database development, conference planning, and communications outreach. She received her bachelor’s degree, with honors, from The George Washington University in 2010, where she majored in sociology and minored in political science.
Finance and Operations
Renée Brackett, Logistics Coordinator
Renée Brackett has been with CSG since 2001. She plans and directs logistics, including hotel and meeting site selection, contract negotiations, and all related travel arrangements. She also serves as the executive assistant to the Director.
Evelyn Collazo, Administrative Assistant
Evelyn Collazo assists the logistics coordinator in providing administrative support for CSG Justice Center and the Eastern Regional Conference. Before to joining CSG, she worked extensively in the non-profit sector providing support to a museum, an arts council, and various cultural service and community-based organizations.
Danielle Edwards, Budget Director
Danielle Edwards is responsible for overseeing all of the CSG Justice Center’s finances. She manages the Justice Center’s many grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, and budgets, as well as supervises associated finance staff. She also works with the director on strategic planning for the Justice Center. Prior to joining CSG, she was a Budget and Financial Analyst at Columbia University. Danielle received her B.A. from Boston University.
Seattle, WA, Office
Anne Bettesworth, Policy Analyst
Anne Bettesworth is a policy analyst who helps advance the justice reinvestment initiative for the Justice Center. Her previous experience includes working as a policy associate in the Government Relations Office of the American Psychological Association, and as legislative staff for a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, both in Washington, D.C. She is experienced in drafting legislative language and policy recommendations, engaging in coalition building, and organizing meetings among policymakers. Anne has a B.A. in political science from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in public administration from The George Washington University.
Marshall Clement, Project Director
Marshall Clement directs the CSG Justice Center’s justice reinvestment project, which assists policymakers seeking to increase public safety, reduce corrections spending, and improve conditions in the neighborhoods to which most people released from prison return. As part of this assistance, Marshall coordinates the work of a team of national experts to analyze corrections data and policy and develop policy options for state policymakers. He regularly facilitates meetings among judicial and state agency officials, and testifies before legislative committees in various states across the US. His findings have been used to inform policy initiatives in states that have enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support. Before joining the Justice Center, Marshall was a policy researcher with the Rhode Island Family Life Center, a nationally recognized prisoner reentry program, where he worked on improving access to housing and TANF resources for individuals recently released from prison and jail. Marshall received his B.A. in Public Policy with honors from Brown University.
In Memoriam
Jason John Bryl
The Council of State Governments Justice Center lost a valued colleague, Jason J. Bryl, on August 15, 2010. Jason was a research and data consultant who worked from the Austin, Texas, office. His work provided needed support to the organization and to the many policymakers looking for data-driven answers to difficult challenges in states across the nation. He was also a talented musician and was known for his commitment and sense of humor. A 1994 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he is survived by his wife and two children. Jason was 41 and will be missed by the CSG family and the many individuals whose lives he touched.
The CSG Justice Center also draws on a diverse group of other expert consultants who bring extensive experience and insights to the Justice Center’s project work.